Taking pH readings in the Biology lab!

What all this means, I don't yet know.  But its a good way to keep notes in order to continue with looking things up when I get back! 

Too much politics for me?

I just wrote this (fair to say I'm having a wobble about my future!):

Is it all just too confusing now to know what to eat?

When was the last time you ate something with total confidence?

You read so much from so many places and just when you think you might have cracked the code on the mystery that is 'healthy eating' you hear some new bit of research which tells you how wrong you have it.

I'm frustrated.  I'm being honest.


For me, things are a little different as I have both crohns disease and celiac so of course I need to take those things into account.  Yet as a nutritionist (the type without a degree - yet!) I find it's near on impossible to give the right advice to the entire audience.

A dietitian who I previously respected has published a rant about all the type of 'clean living' which is apparently a new fad.  The BBC publishedthis show about the dirty secrets of clean living.  The blogger who hosted it was quite open about what she was trying and the advice she was getting from various fad diet gurus.  After watching it, I had to agree with a lot of what she said, there is a lot of bad advice out there.

Yet something that makes me really cross is how they portray us poor old 'nutritionists'.  
There seems to be a war between the quackary of being a nutritionist and a dietitian who is one to be obeyed.  
In fact, to set the record straight, we take the same degree qualification and the only difference is that Registered Nutritionists do not have to undertake hospital placements.  Generally,  once qualified and Registered with the Association for Nutrition, a Nutritionist will need to practice with as much credibility as a dietitian.  

I started out my degree to become a dietitian.  I changed my mind after 4 months as I realised that I would be tied to a 'one rule fits all'.  Sadly, I had a bad experience with a dietitian and I'm sure this was an isolated incident.  When I was first diagnosed with Crohns and fighting to keep my bowel in tact and not have it removed with surgery,  the dietitian I saw at my hospital knew nothing about adjusting my diet in accordance with inflammatory bowel disease, nor did my gasteroenterologist beleive I could make improvements in my health by changing my diet.

"you can't control your symptoms without medication or surgery, or both."  He said as I cried.
The dietitian advised me to eat from the Eatwell plate which I am sure would have left me in a state of needing the surgery.

I proved them wrong.

I won't go into my advice to you in this blog post. I simply want to  point out that if you believe one way works for you, then it's likely it will.  

However, while we have spent two years studying hardcore science and about to get into the minefield of research to complete our degrees at university, I can't help but wonder if I'm trying to enter an industry that seems to love a bit of politics.

That worries me.  

A week off sick

Everything got the better of me as I had my first cold in about 5 years!

I was so reluctant to take any time off but I was left with no choice.  Still now, I have no voice! But I'm back to studying and to be honest, I'm a little worried about what I have missed.

Meanwhile, up at the beautiful Greenwich campus, I have been undergoing training for a student ambassador role helping 6th formers with their A levels.  It's a role I am very keen to get my teeth stuck into.  Mentoring.  Nurturing.  My kind of thing.

week 3

Week 3 - Lab skills and ipads

The real learning begins this week.  Up until now have we just been 'playing' at university students?  I had a feeling that things were going to start getting serious in the learning department.  Well, this is what we are here for after all.  Part of me feels so excited about the new challenges and getting switched on once again to stretching my brain (this isn't biologically possible I'm so sure!). The other part of me is feeling slight panic.  Who will take care of everything at home?  The fairies I hope.  Then of course there is work to juggle.  All while still over thinking things as I so often do.

Where will this degree take me?

What will I do at the end of it?

Will I write for a living or see patients?

Will I teach others?

Will I travel to far places and cure the hunger crisis?

Monday we saw the start of our first lecture with a fantastic tutor who taught us the basics (apparently) of amino acids.  This is one of the areas I am very keen to learn as I know just how essential it is to my course yet one of the areas I have not yet learnt very much about.  

Making lots of notes, I realised there is so much to go home and learn.  Di-sulphide bridges,  classification of Amino acids and ionisable - what are these?  Time for some Youtube videos once again.

Tuesday we all headed to the lab.  This was great fun and everyone within the group seemed to really feel it was a welcome sense of 'using ones initiative' and good old common sense.  Of course, there is much to learn but also a lot of the above needs to be applied.  I did have a quiet grin to myself as our tutor (with an accent like mine; local) said,

"Morning everyone, I'm Andy!" yet when you look up his email on the system, his name begins with Dr.

He was great! I could hear him clearly in the lab although I did wear my hearing aid for fear of not being able to be near the tutor.  Chemistry.  I am beginning to feel a love for chemistry.  Especially the fact that they gave us our very own drawers, with our very own glassware equipment inside.  All secured with a lovely 4 digit code.

During the afternoon lunch break I was once again finding myself with difficulties of negative conversations.  This was beginning to affect me and I was feeling a real sense of wanting to get away from this and simply work.  Where could I go to do this?  I would have to find a quiet hiding place.

Biology in the afternoon lab was fantastic.  Lots of sessions of learning how to pipette things (not things,  serial dilutions in fact).  I was so glad once again that I had experienced the time I had at London Met last year.  Valuable experience indeed.  People seemed to get the impression that I really know what I am doing and my collegues were asking me many questions.  I helped where I could of course.  It's what I love to do.  As we collected our ipads that afternoon,  I realised I had left my ID badge at home.  I needed this for the collection of the ipad that I would make friends with in the next 3 years.  

"It's ok, I'm local.  I'll pop home and get it quickly." I told the technician excitedly.  I wanted to get my ipad ready to go, loaded with the apps and set for my Friday lecture.

This is also the day I registered with the Nutrition Society.  Feeling very much like a real trainee nutritionist now.  What a beautiful, exciting career to have.

Friday I made many notes.  Isomers.  What were they?  I now know it's simply a name for the same number of atoms but joined differently! Go me.

Chiral  - Still to get to grips with the meaning of Chiral.  

Something about benzine.  It's special for a reason I haven't found yet.

Biology on Friday afternoon was a delight of wonderful cells and organelles.  Once again,  I wrote ATP in my notes.  Knowing this is likely something about energy but not being quite sure, I need to look it up.  I keep thinking something to do with active transport,  yet I know this makes no logic!

ATP is: Adenosine triphosphate. A molecular unit of currency.  ATP transports chemical energy within cells for metabolism.  

Lovely,  now I know something I hadn't known before.

My student diary youtube channel has gone live!

While I was trying to figure out about uni as a mature student, I Struggled to find what i needed.

So I decided to create a very VERY RAW And real channel, mostly with chatty videos about my university experience. I'm so excited to finally begin launching this video series from 3 years ago.

If you take a look and like what you see, I would love it if you subscribe and follow the journey!

Lab reports - how to do them

Abstract
- 100 to 200 words summary of the purpose of the report, the data presented, and the author's major conclusions.

Introduction
- Define the subject of the report: "Why was this study performed?"Answers to this question may be derived from observations of nature or from the literature.
- Provide background information and relevant studies: "What knowledge already exists about this subject?"The answer to this question must review the literature, showing the historical development of an idea and including the confirmations, conflicts, and gaps in existing knowledge.
- Outline scientific purpose(s) and/or objective(s): "What are the specific hypotheses and the experimental design for investigation?"What is the specific purpose of the study? The specific hypotheses and experimental design pertinent to investigating the topic should be described.

Materials and Methods
What materials were used? 
How were they used?
Where and when was the work done? (This question is most important in field studies.)
        Describe special pieces of equipment and the general theory of the analyses or assays used

Results

• Concentrate on general trends and differences and not on trivial details.
• Summarize the data from the experiments without discussing their implications
• Organize data into tables, figures, graphs, photographs, etc. Data in a table should not be duplicated in a graph or figure
• Title all figures and tables; include a legend explaining symbols, abbreviations, or special methods
• Number figures and tables separately
  and refer to them in the text by their number, i.e.
  1.        Figure 1 shows that the activity....
  2.        The activity decreases after five minutes (fig. 1)

Discussion

• Interpret the data; do not restate the results
• Relate results to existing theory and knowledge
• Explain the logic that allows you to accept or reject your original hypotheses
• Speculate as necessary but identify it as such
• Include suggestions for improving your techniques or design, or clarify areas of doubt for further research
• suggest future experiments that might clarify areas of doubt in your results

General style

• Strive for logic and precision and avoid ambiguity, especially with pronouns and sequences
• Keep your writing impersonal; avoid the use of the first person (i.e. I or we)
• Use the past tense and be consistent within the report
  note: "data" is plural and "datum" is singular; species is singular and plural
• Italicize all scientific names (genus and species)
• Use the metric system of measurement and abbreviate measurements without periods (i.e. cm kg) spell out all numbers beginning sentences or less than 10 (i.e. "two explanations of six factors").
• Write numbers as numerals when greater than ten (i.e. 156) or associated with measurements (i.e. 6 mm or 2 g)
• Have a neutral person review and critique your report before submission

Time management

Say no more. The car is being serviced so I sit here and work! 

Poster Presentations

Part of  science degree is learning how to create a poster presentation.

This sounds so crazy, like a kid creating something amusing that mum and dad must put on the Fridge with a capital F and likely with an exclamation mark too!

However, yesterday saw the beginning of a love of poster presentations and me.  Actually the jury is still out on that one.  The subject was not my best love.  We were studying PCR (polymerase chain reaction) in Biochemistry.  Many students took part.  All of us with different backgrounds.  Hence my fellow nutritionists and I chose to speak about gelatin.

I won't mention what the poster presentation was about as that is a lengthy process but what I will say (in case you are a student looking for tips on how to create a poster) we were given feedback which said make it PUNCHY!

Not too much text, plenty of visual aids.  In other words, when you are presenting a poster, the reader shouldn't have to stand and read for ten minutes. They should be able to see by quickly looking if they want to know more or not from that one quick look at the poster.

If you would like to see an example, I am happy to email you so do ask me here but as it was a group project, I can't publish this here without the permission of the others. I'm totally sure they wouldn't mind but it gets complicated.

Our presentation was after research on a primary paper.  Still not 100% clear what a primary paper is. All I know is it is NOTHING like reading a blog.  It's paragraph after paragraph.  Long sentences and words I might not understand for another year or two!

So, quick learning curve ahead for me.

Make sure you subscribe to this blog for more tips in the coming weeks.  Plus a little news from me which I hope may prove exciting.  However, you need to watch this space as it's all top secret for now!

I will let you know how we got on with our marks on the poster presentation.

Happily I can report that I'm glad there were no fallings out on this group project.  Last year, we had one total bitch head which is where I'm sure my anxiety began.  Bringing up issues from the past with me.  Memories of school bullies which is more than ridiculous that we hang onto these memories and can't just leave them where they belong; in the past.  Yet it seems pretty much impossible.  Even at my age!

Juicy tips to get you started as a student!

Deciding to apply to university always has a story behind it.

Doesn’t matter who you are. 

“My parents wanted me to go.”

“I really want to be the best Photographer I can.”

“Without university, I cannot be the registered health professional I want to be.”

Yet if you ask a mature student, the answer will often be from a totally different place.

For me, after a painful break up and subsequently realizing I wasn’t now likely to have enough children to start my own Vontrapp family, something needed to distract me.  Couple this up with a lifelong dream to help others into health through nutrition, I decided to study to be a dietitian. 

Wow.  What a ride!

As a recent graduate I feel I would like to share what I have learnt about life on the way.  The science of nutrition was just a small part of what I have taken away from my university experience.

Who would have thought a 40 something single parent to twins would be saying, “I’ve learnt so much about myself.”?  Let’s face it, at 18 years old, I would have laughed at my 40 year old me for not having it already figured out. 

My advice and tips:

If you are a parent or juggling some other challenge such as being a carer or indeed having health struggles, dealing with mental health and anxiety, dyslexia or simply finding you sometimes get in your own way no matter how hard you try not to, you will be finding different coping mechanisms.

Learn to listen to yourself and your gut.   The gut feeling has never been wrong in my life this far. If something feels off, it generally is.  Sometimes it might be the student who takes too much but never gives, or the lecturer who fills you with fear.  Learn to tap into what works for you.  This might sound selfish but remember that old analogy of fitting your own oxygen mask before you can help others?  There are times to give, yet there are times to be totally selfish. 

Find others who are more on your wavelength.  They will be there and their support will help you through. 

Study at  a time that is best for all of you.

Family needs are important. Yet so are your studies.  Shortly after learning about chemistry, I knew I needed to be in total silence when I was trying to learn about all of this.  I was often unable to sleep much past 4.30am as I was always worried about missing my train! So I decided to get up at this time of the morning and start watching Youtube videos on my subject.  It really helped me to understand what I was supposed to be doing.  The darkness of those winter months saw me make a fluffy coffee and lighting myself some candles and I began to really enjoy my early morning study. 

Ask for help

There will be extended family members who might help walk the dog, pick the children up from school etc.  If your children are old enough to run a cloth around the bathroom, offer some of your student loan to them for helping! They will love the odd £2 here and there.  Don’t offer a weekly amount as you might find this costing you money with no return. Instead give them some money for each chore.

Within the university there will be wellbeing advisors, counselling and needs assessors to help you with any overwhelm, special assistance, extra time in exams or even software which might help you.  This list goes on.  Try typing into the University search bar “Wellbeing” and see what is on offer.

Some universities use Peer Mentoring services.  Use this! To ask a student how they log into a portal or who to go to in the library for your specific subject is more valuable than you can imagine!

Find a way that works for you

Studying is going to be so different for each individual.  We mentioned earlier you need to find a time to study when you will be at your most productive.  This is ideal for those times you need to focus hard.  Yet the actual studying is something that will vary from person to person.  If I tell you what worked for me, it might give you some ideas on different things to try.

As a science student, we were warned not to rely on Wikipedia.  I agree.  This isn’t to be used for referencing into science papers and likely any other subject papers too! That said, I struggled when I tried to dive straight into scientific journals on a subject I had yet to understand.

Instead, I would search in Wiki for the basics.  Read that.

Then I would also try to read about whatever it was on websites such as NHS or World Heath Organisation (very dependant on the topic).

Typing into Youtube was incredible.  I am a very visual learner and love being able to listen and see at the same time.  You’ll be amazed what you find on this platform.

After getting a basic understanding under my belt I would start to delve deeper and eventually end up using a software programme which was life changing called Mendeley where I could search for academic research papers on my topic. 

If only I had known all this at the start!

One other footnote.  I expected to goto class and come out crystal clear on what I had just learnt.  However, I am not the only one who expected that and ended up disappointed and frustrated.

Going to university is a journey of learning and self directed study.  They do tell you this.  Yet most new students will hear their timetabled hours and plan life around that.  Don’t! Unless you are happy to just pass.   Put in the work.  Expect to come out of class with some material to base your learning on.  Teach yourself as much as you can.  Relying totally on the lecture will see you struggle unless you are nothing short of genius. 

All the tough love out of the way, I’ll now say this: enjoy yourself!

Embrace the journey. The good and the bad.  You will likely come out of university a different person to the one you started as.  Even if you really like yourself at the beginning, I can promise you will be chuffed to bits with yourself the day you hear them call out your name at graduation and receive that handshake!

End of year 1

March already.  Where is the first year going at university? 

 

My good intentions were to add to this blog each week.  Recording my life lessons as well as my science lessons.  Likely the biggest lesson I learnt was that life gets in the way, even with the best intentions.

 

When you first begin to fill out that UCAS form, the type of questions you ask yourself as the applicant are likely to be, "Am I good enough?" "Can I pass?" and the like.  Now, however, it is more like, "Where do I find elastic time to magic some space to write that essay?"

 

Being a firm believer in testing yourself and taking life to the limits in order to learn, I have found a wonderful sense of accomplishment this year.  Simple things have shown me how I learn better as an auditory learner. Which is a shock as a partially deaf student.  Also, being a lover of technology, I thought I would fall in love with my new iPad we were supplied with.  However, it seems this is only one way I find ease in which to record my notes. I still prefer note pads and pieces of paper.

 

Chemistry is now making sense!

 

After learning more and more about nutrition I realise how thankful I am for the extended year zero at London Met last year. Without that insight into chemistry I may have found things tricky this year.  As always with life, there are highs and lows and lots to catch up on on my desk, laying around in organised piles.  

This first year at university I have found an affection for the beautiful red brick buildings around campus, for coffee in Starbucks each sleepy morning and the smiling faces who serve my vanilla latte. 

 

I now know I want to do well, be the best I can be.  I have had to learn the lesson of this by lowering my work hours. I wish to continue my studies upon successful completion of this Honours degree.

 

Here's to the exam period and the second year.